ts-250 table saw

**rick_rine** · 1st February 2007, 11:16 PM

After 20 years with a Triton MK111 I thought it was time to upgrade . I didn’t follow everyone’s advice as I am just a handyman but I bought a TS-250 for a bit over $1000.
The staff at H&F were fantastic and I got delivery of said saw . In my naivety I expected to plunk it down in the middle of my smaller ( 8m x 9m ) workshop and start playing . No such luck . It arrived at 5 p.m. and at 11 o’clock I retired to the house with the saw still not completely assembled , I was taking my time making sure everything lined up and all bolts were tight . I was once a plant mechanic so am not totally incompetent . The instruction booklet supplied was next to useless and H&F should invest a day or two with a camera and a computer to put together a proper assembly instruction book .
Anyway , back to my whinge about living away from everything once it was set up I thought it took up much more room than I had thought it would and start to wonder “Is this the saw for me ? “ . Honestly , if I had of seen it before buying it out of the catalogue I probably wouldn’t have bought it just for the amount of space it takes up with the sliding table .
The next day another fitter came around and we spend the best part of an hour levelling the sliding table before we got it to his exact requirements .
I read the poll on the riving blade and was amused by the posts . Most said they don’t use it yet the poll said most do . Anyway when I bought the triton 20 years ago the first thing I did was throw away the riving knife . This time I spent an hour setting it up perfectly before taking it off to do my halving joints for my first project . I wonder if I’ll put it back on ? It did feel safer with it but by golly gee whiz it’s a bit of mucking about to chop and change .
After using it for the first couple of days I am happy . It does what is expected , it is definitely more than I needed , it is of good quality and would be better for a small professional than a hobby man like myself , it is accurate , solid , takes up a lot of room . Better to have something better than you need than something short I suppose .
Good value for money . Good quality . Powerful motor . Useless instruction booklet .
Rick

**Wild Dingo** · 2nd February 2007, 12:41 AM

Sooo Rick your settlin in okay I see

Now mate your gettin to be a right royal sookylala over there in sunny Tazzy eh?

wonder if its gonna have that effect on me?

nah! for a start Im takin me own tools with me! Sod buying from a cattledog!!... I mean Im thinking of selling them along with 9/10ths of everything else and starting anew when we get there... maybe I should buy the tools on the way through? mmm food for thought

maybe I will start a think thread? good idea there Rick well done mate! Cheers!

I can see bein over there hasnt dulled you yet!

**Just George** · 2nd February 2007, 04:25 PM

Originally Posted by rick_rine

The instruction booklet supplied was next to useless and H&F should invest a day or two with a camera and a computer to put together a proper assembly instruction book .

I totally agree that the instructions are useless...

How did you go levelling the table to the sliding table? My sliding table is slightly highter than the table, I've been putting up with it until I ot really sick of it. Also I find that the rip fence can be out slightly but this is fixed when I loosen it off give it a little tap, it just hasn't moved as far as the front of the fence. I know this is the problem, have you also encountered this?

As far as the space goes, I have a much smaller workshop than you, I am jealous. I plan on getting a new shed this year or maybe next. I found that if the saw is facing the door

you can rip what ever length you want or if it faces the wall

(90 degrees) you can cross cut anything, but then you are in a larger area which is almost square so this won't apply so much to you. Any hows, I angled mine so I can rip and crosscut just about any sized pieces I want.

**rick_rine** · 6th February 2007, 10:39 PM

Just George , Thanks very much for your comments last year on this saw and after having it in the shed for a couple of weeks I couldn't be happier . It is a really great saw and very good value for money .
Leveling the sliding table took a lot of patience . Many times I said to my fitter friend " Thats good enough , just leave it " but he kept on and got it perfect . It took us about an hour . The way we did it was with a straight level but in the end we had to put a shim ( a beer can came in handy ) under the bolts that keep the rail attached to the table . I'll try to post a photo but it was on the front of the table .
Yes the rip fence can be a little bit out . It passed my mind that maybe the triton was better here but after my limited experience on this new toy I find that with careful observation it is easy to set up .
I am very happy with it and recommend it to any serious hobby person or small time proffesional . And Just George , are you still happy with your unit ?
As we agree JG H&F really need to do something serious about the instruction manual . It sucks

and is next to useless .
Oh , and I havn't put the riving knife or guard back on . I think I will file them with the tritons . I try to keep the blade as low as I can to minimize risk .

**rick_rine** · 6th February 2007, 11:24 PM

hope you can see this . It is a bit blurry .

**TassieKiwi** · 7th February 2007, 07:43 AM

I think that the Jet sliding table seems to be designed to sit proud of the static table by a few thou, so maybe your saw is set up the same.

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